


Friendship bracelet

by ToxicPineapple



Series: Kaemaki Week 2020 [6]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Orphanage, And also Kaede was there, Angst, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, God is this even really just Kaemaki, I'm really fucking sorry, Mostly Fluff, Orphanage, Sad Ending, Tenko is here a LOT, What can I say I like an aikido master, What if Tenko was Maki's childhood best friend, implied romantic feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25257283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: “What is it, then?” Maki asks, and she doesn’t sound quite as exasperated as she could, maybe because in the silence she got caught up in gazing at Kaede’s expression (as she so often does) while she gazed at the blanket. If Kaede notices the softness in her eyes, though, she doesn’t say anything about it. She just smiles a bit sheepishly.“Well,” and she looks at Tenko for this, her brows tilting just a little, “I think we’re just about done, anyway. Just need to tie them off at the ends.”“Is Kaede-chan sure?” Tenko frowns, in what Maki recognises as an anxious expression, her free hand moving up to grasp at the green bow in her hair, the one that must’ve been really vibrant at one point but is now faded and tattered and old, yet Tenko just keeps on wearing it, every single day.---Kaede and Tenko surprise Maki with a bracelet, and a promise.---Kaemaki week day six: Promise/Plea
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Chabashira Tenko, Akamatsu Kaede/Chabashira Tenko/Harukawa Maki, Akamatsu Kaede/Harukawa Maki, Chabashira Tenko/Harukawa Maki
Series: Kaemaki Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821460
Comments: 15
Kudos: 38





	Friendship bracelet

**Author's Note:**

> written for kaemaki week day six! the prompt was promise/plea and the prompt i used was promise

When Maki comes back upstairs from cleanup duty, the light is off in her room, but it’s not entirely dark; there’s a dim yellow glow coming from the bottom bunk, muffled by the white blanket thrown over the rail of the top, forming a curtain of sorts. Maki isn’t sure why Kaede bothers with it; the flashlight she has under there is dim enough in the first place to be on the whole unobtrusive, and when it’s dark in here like this, in the middle of wintertime, even the smallest, most muffled sources of light tend to fill the room. It doesn’t help matters any that the blankets here have always been really thin.

Whatever the case, this isn’t a new sight for Maki to come up to, so instead of asking why Kaede is up so late, she seizes the side of the blanket and pulls it over, ducking her head down to peer at her friend. Kaede is curled up at the head of her bed, holding something in her hands-- though she shoves it between her legs as soon as the blanket moves-- but Maki notes pretty quickly that Kaede isn’t sitting under here alone. Tenko doesn’t share this room with them, actually, she sleeps down the hall, but when Maki turns her head to the right she meets a pair of wide, honey tinted green eyes (from the flashlight; usually Tenko’s eyes are more grass coloured) and heaves a sigh. Tenko seems to have moved faster than Kaede did, because her hands are already between her knees.

Well, cool, Maki steps out of her shoes, and sensing her intention, Tenko scoots over to allow her space, so Maki sits down beside her, tucking her feet underneath her legs. Even as she settles in, Tenko and Kaede don’t move, nor do they lose those expressions, like they both got caught in the act of doing crime. It makes Maki scoff.

“It’s just me,” Maki says quietly, rolling her eyes and waving a hand. “You don’t have to hide whatever you were doing. I’m not gonna get you in trouble for being here, or anything,” and then she looks at Tenko, her eyebrows slightly raised. As ever, Tenko flushes, and the red is bright on her pale face even in the dim lighting. It tempts Maki to smile when Tenko turns her head away. She doesn’t, but it’s a very near thing.

“Oh, Tenko knows that Maki-chan won’t tell,” Tenko begins, messing with whatever it is she’s hiding in between her legs, “it’s not that Tenko is worried-- o-or that Kaede-chan is worried, it’s just--”

“Spit it out,” Maki huffs, “you’re acting all jumpy. You don’t have to do that.” She frowns, for a moment, looking at Tenko a little bit softer. “I’m not going to get mad at you, you know.”

“It’s not that!” Kaede bursts out, and then claps a hand over her mouth when Maki and Tenko both look at her, as though aware of how loud she just spoke. All three of them are quiet for a moment, waiting for an adult to come from downstairs and tell them to get to bed. They’re very strict about bedtimes around here, even for the older kids. Though Maki suspects that has less to do with their health and more to do with making sure they’re in pique condition to become assassins later.

...Well. Sooner, rather than later, for some of them. Maki swallows and pushes back the thought. Nobody appears to be coming, so she looks up at Kaede again, raising her eyebrows slightly and tilting her head to the side. Maki doesn’t need to verbalise her question. Kaede has known her long enough, presumably, to see the inquisitiveness in her expression.

“It’s not that,” Kaede says again, more softly this time, lowering her hand to her lap now that the threat of adult intervention has passed. She leans herself against the pillow behind her (they only get one) and turns to look at the blanket that’s acting for them as a curtain.

Kaede is only nine, but there are these quiet moments at times where she seems so much older. She’ll get a faraway look on her face and gaze off into the distance, her brow furrowing slightly, her lower lip pulling in between her teeth. It’s strange how a pensive expression can age a person so much. Of course, there isn’t really a person at this orphanage who looks to be as old as they really are-- barring Tenko, that is, but Maki prides herself on the ability to  _ keep  _ Tenko feeling as old as she does, to keep her from aging faster than she has to-- but it’s most overt on Kaede, who is all sunny smiles and bright statements and warm bedtime stories until you catch her off guard.

Maki heard once that Kaede used to have a sister, before she came here, before her family died in an accident three years ago. She wonders if they shared that quality.

“What is it, then?” Maki asks, and she doesn’t sound  _ quite  _ as exasperated as she could, maybe because in the silence she got caught up in gazing at Kaede’s expression (as she so often does) while she gazed at the blanket. If Kaede notices the softness in her eyes, though, she doesn’t say anything about it. She just smiles a bit sheepishly.

“Well,” and she looks at Tenko for this, her brows tilting just a little, “I think we’re just about done, anyway. Just need to tie them off at the ends.”

“Is Kaede-chan sure?” Tenko frowns, in what Maki recognises as an anxious expression, her free hand moving up to grasp at the green bow in her hair, the one that must’ve been really vibrant at one point but is now faded and tattered and old, yet Tenko just keeps on wearing it, every single day. “Tenko’s is still really lumpy and bad, and she got that on her half of Maki-chan’s too, and Kaede-chan hasn’t gotten a chance to make it better, yet, so--”

“I don’t need to make them better!” Kaede says, fervently, her eyes widening. It would be sweet, if Maki knew what they were talking about. “I think they’re good, even if you think they’re bad! And I’m sure Maki-chan will appreciate it anyway!”

“Maybe if I knew what you’re talking about,” Maki interjects, a bit flatly, to be met with another matched pair of sheepish (if slightly abashed, on Tenko’s end) smiles from the other girls. Maki releases a breath, and tugs on one of her twintails, pouting a bit. “Don’t look at me like that. I just,” and she would never say this to anyone else, god these two are annoying, “would be able to reassure you better if I actually knew what’s going on.”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” Kaede explains, tilting her head to the side. “We weren’t expecting you to be done with kitchen duty so fast.” Her smile stays soft on her expression as she lifts her hands from between her legs, cradling something between her palms. “Uhm, this one is mine, actually, but, here,” she waits for Maki to put out her hand before slipping something thin and light into it. At closer examination, Maki sees that it’s a woven bracelet made out of pale green and red threads. They must’ve been taken off of old clothes, or something, because there’s no way anyone at the orphanage could get thread solely for the purpose of making a bracelet.

It’s very… mmm. Uniform. Or maybe that’s not the right word, but it’s the only one that Maki can think to use. The rows are all very neat and precise. It’s clear that someone with very graceful fingers worked on this. (That being, of course, Kaede, who Maki has seen on occasion sneaking up to that creaky old piano and spilling beautiful melodies through the orphanage.) It’s a bit loose, too, large, as though meant for someone with wrists a lot larger than Kaede’s.

“Papa said make them bigger than your hand so you can wear them a long time,” Kaede explains, as Maki passes the bracelet back over to her, her head tilting to the side just a little. “I used to make them with my sister, back then,” she clears her throat, “so I taught Tenko-chan. I wanted to teach you, too, but you haven’t been here a lot…”

_ That’s not fair,  _ Maki thinks, and it’s  _ not,  _ because Kaede knows why Maki hasn’t been here, knows and understands in a way that Tenko doesn’t, because Maki would rather die than let Tenko understand like that. Maki would love to be spending all her time outside of helping out the younger kids making friendship bracelets with Tenko and Kaede.

It’s just that when Maki isn’t helping out around the orphanage, she’s training to become an assassin. She has to be. In terms of physical capabilities, here, it’s her or Tenko. And Kaede knows this. She’s been a big part in keeping Tenko from thinking about it.

So it’s not fair to say. But Maki won’t call her out on it, because that would call attention to it, and that would make everything worse. Besides, Maki can’t really… blame Kaede, for being disappointed. Even if she doesn’t get why Kaede wants her to be around so much. It’s not like she’s particularly fun to be around. But whatever. That’s not really important, right now.

“A-Anyway,” Kaede waves her hand, and Maki wonders distantly what it was that was running through _ her _ head just now, if it was something similar to what was running through Maki’s. (She… hopes it wasn’t. She would feel guilty, if it was.) “Since I couldn’t teach you, we just made you one! So me and Tenko-chan made ourselves bracelets and then we worked on one for you together. Uhm, Tenko-chan was just finishing when you came in,” and her gaze flickers over to Tenko, whose ears seem to be turning progressively redder as the minutes progress, “wanna show her, Tenko-chan?”

“Uhhhh,” Tenko seems to consider it for a moment before she squeaks, “nope! No, Tenko is good, Tenko’s great! Tenko is  _ o-kay,”  _ and she squeezes her hands into fists where they’re hidden in her lap, shaking her head fervently so that her green bow flops from side to side. Maki is reminded of a dog with big, floppy ears, bounding out of a pool of water and shaking its entire body and getting water everywhere. Tenko is like a dog, Maki thinks, enthusiastic and sunshiney like that. Kaede’s like a dog too.

Why is everyone Maki cares about like a dog? (Not that it’s a very long list, but it’s weird that there are  _ two  _ doglike people close to her heart, isn’t it?)

“Awww,” Kaede pouts, “c’mon, Tenko-chan, don’t be shy! Maki-chan will like it for sure, won’t you, Maki-chan?”

Maki rolls her eyes. Of course she will, if it’s made by Tenko and Kaede, but she doesn’t say that. “Can’t make up my mind on it if I haven’t seen it,” she says instead, “so you might as well just show me.”

“Maybe that’s why Tenko  _ shouldn’t  _ show you,” Tenko suggests, perking up a little, and it’s obnoxiously cute considering how adorable it is. “‘Cause if Maki-chan can’t see it, she can’t hate it, either.”

Huffing, Maki reaches out and curls her hands around Tenko’s wrists. They’re warm under hers, and sturdy. She’s always very steady. It would make her a really good assassin. (What an awful thing to think.) Maki squeezes her wrists, gently, furrowing her brow and looking into Tenko’s eyes. “Just show me, Tenko.”

And Tenko, whose face has gone  _ entirely  _ red by now, stammers out a few incoherent syllables before eventually just lifting her hands with Maki’s still attached, and then slowly uncurling her fingers.

There are two bracelets resting in her palms. One of them is pink and red, presumably Tenko’s, based on the colours chosen, but the other is pink and green. And it’s--

Well. It’s pretty obvious which parts were done by Kaede, and which ones were done by Tenko, to begin with. The threads are clumped in some areas, and it’s not the neatest job-- likely because they traded off so much-- and there are places where the threads are frayed or faded, and Maki wouldn’t buy it at a garage sale or anything, but. The material is… surprisingly soft, and from how tightly Tenko was holding it, Maki can tell it means a lot to her. That she worked hard on it. And there’s a light apprehension in Kaede’s expression (though she appears to be trying to hide it) that suggests the same thing.

Not that it would be hard to tell that Tenko and Kaede worked hard on it either way. They’re those kind of people, the types who wear their hearts on their sleeves, the types who put their all into things and care so  _ deeply  _ about it. Kaede is better at hiding it, better at acting positive all the time, but for somebody like Maki, who keeps her emotions under lock and key… without Tenko here, Kaede would be the epitome of sincerity. She comes pretty close regardless. It makes Maki feel… warm. That they did this for her. For no real reason other than that they want to. It’s the kind of thing a moron would do, for someone who is about to become a murderer, like Harukawa Maki.

But Kaede and Tenko have always been pretty idiotic.

“It’s…” Maki stares at it for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. She clears her throat. “Friendship bracelets are stupid. It’ll probably just fall off and get lost or something.” She pauses, furrowing her brow. “But it’s… okay, I guess. It’s fine.” She huffs, feeling the bracelet in her fingers, trying to figure out a better, more sincere compliment. The kind of thing that Tenko or Kaede would be able to say without trying. Mmmmm. The issue is that Maki  _ isn’t  _ Tenko or Kaede, she’s just… Maki. “It’s not just fine, I think that… it’s… it’s sweet,” she manages, trying to lift her gaze and look up at her friends, so that she can actually. Mean, what she says. It’s hard.

“Told you she’d like it,” Kaede says, matter-of-factly, and Tenko flushes a little, but otherwise gives a wide smile, her green eyes sparkling, even in the relative darkness.

“Tenko is so glad,” Tenko utters, a bit breathily. Her face is a little bit flushed. Maki’s chest is oddly, grossly warm. “She-- she hoped Maki-chan would like it.”

“Yeah, well,” Maki averts her gaze, huffing a little, “don’t push your luck.”

No amount of denial, it seems, will wipe that smile from Tenko’s face. And Maki is okay with that, actually. More than okay with it.

Later, when Tenko is gone, Kaede squeezes Maki’s hand, crawling up into the top bunk, and then curls up against her. With anyone else, Maki would push them away, but Kaede’s casual touches are warm and soft and pleasant, just like her, so she allows it. She even relaxes into it, slipping her arm around Kaede’s shoulders, and breathes in the smell of that boring shampoo all the kids at the orphanage are given.

After a while, Kaede speaks, her nose tucked in against Maki’s cheek. “Those bracelets are a promise, y’know. Tenko-chan doesn’t really know, but, I figured you should.”

“A promise of what?” Maki asks, flatly, turning her gaze onto Kaede, raising her eyebrows a bit.

“That we’ll be friends forever,” and when Maki scoffs, Kaede lightly swats her arm. “I mean it! You already made that sacrifice for Tenko-chan and I decided I was gonna support you, but that means you have to promise! No matter what happens, all three of us are a team. We’re gonna stick together!”

Maki wants to say,  _ life doesn’t work like that. Things happen that you can’t expect. You should know that, after what happened to your parents. You should know that since you’re here. You should’ve learned that by now. _

She, can’t say that, though, not to Kaede, not to Tenko. Maybe to someone else. But not to one of them. They’re too… soft. Maki couldn’t bring herself to say that sort of thing to them.

“Fine,” Maki sighs. She messes with the bracelet around her wrist. “It’s a promise, then. We’ll be friends forever, or whatever.”

At that, Kaede gives a wide, wide smile, and throws her arms even tighter around Maki, and it’s hard for Maki to find herself regretting it at all.

(Even years later, when Maki is coming back from a job and Kaede comes up to her, her face streaked with tears, bearing the news that Tenko died saving somebody from a car accident, she can’t find herself regretting that she made the promise. It’s the first time a promise that Maki made has been broken by someone who isn’t Maki.

She can’t, bring herself, to be angry at Tenko, though. She never could.

At least Kaede is there to hold her while she cries, even if there is one bracelet missing.)

**Author's Note:**

> god i'm so emo i can't believe tenko fucking dies i'm sorry beanie


End file.
